ODST Commercial

The Halo ODST commercial directed by Rupert Sanders, was my first experience with video games being transposed to the video medium. It is also the first in a series of live action commercials for each sequential Halo game. The commercial follows the path of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper who's brother was killed in battle. The candle lights at the funeral look like flaming pistols and the amphitheater that the funeral takes place in is large, gray and empty, like the faces of the fellow infantryman in attendance. The boy joins the ODST ranks and goes through a nightmarishly dark and gritty boot camp. He is then jettisoned  into a scenario straight out of Saving Private Ryan.

And with that, the transition to the scene is phenomenal. Jumping from a training wall, the scene has changed to that of interior of the pod in which ODST's are implanted behind enemy lines. In another effective transition, the young boy is slashed by a brute in the face, and his scars are healed through a cut to the boy as a grown man, again attending the funeral of a fallen comrade, only this time, they are in the field of battle during the burial. In these transitions, the boys journey to manhood is rapid and immediate. The scars of battle are given quick convalescence and the entry into battle is preluded by a mental scarring of training.

To see more from Rupert Sanders and the group of directors responsible for story prevalent commercials, look to http://www.mjz.com. Among the groups other notables are Spike Jonze and Micheal Mann.